“Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world an go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (John 13:1 NIV)
Have you noticed yet how loving people is incredibly hard? We tend get tangled up in personalities, agendas and misunderstandings. We’re selfish and oblivious at the same time. We can find the smallest flaw in another but are blind to our own massive shortcomings. Loving people is messy business and we require daily divine tutoring. We look to Jesus in His last twenty-four hours on earth and find an amazing model of loving well while under great stress.
Jesus was about to carry and consequently hang on the cross. Only He doesn’t have the luxury of ignorance about upcoming events. He’s sovereign; He saw His final hours approaching with perfect clarity. And still He spent His last evening on earth with His deeply flawed disciples. I’d imagine they were distracting, maybe even infuriating. It is in the uproar of the Last Supper that we see Him make a hard pivot.
*Pivot has become a hot-button word lately. It seems to be how many of us have coped with pandemic. We were going one way, but the upheaval of an international infection has forced us all to pivot; to redirect our focus and make ourselves useful again.
Jesus has a moment where He decides how to handle His disciples in His last hours, when they were challenging and time was short. He knew Who He was and He knew where was going. He loved them to the very end.
Identity is such a big deal for us. Ever since we got booted from the Garden, we’ve struggled to remember Who’s we are. We rarely live as sons and daughters. Instead we scrape out an existence as slaves: runaway or otherwise. God’s word tells us over and over – His primary objective with humanity is belonging – that we would be His people and He would be our God. When we misplace this truth we spend most of our time trying to figure out who we really are, trying out roles that always leave us empty.
Jesus remembered who He was. Even in His final hours, amidst the most arduous assignment of all time, He hung on to the unchanging truth that He was the Son of God. He was loved deeply and truly, and He was going Home shortly.
What an important reminder for us in this season of chaos, anger and fear! People are reacting, rather than responding. Humanity is heaving and messy. Pain and death seem to be prevailing. But Jesus reminds us to remember Who’s we are: sons and daughters of the living God. He reminds us to recall that we are on route to a plane of existence that will overshadow every hurt, trauma and trouble we’ve experienced here. With our identity and destination firmly in mind, we are freed up to love well right here and now. We are emboldened to serve our fellow man until the very end.
“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God, so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around them.” (John 13:3-5 NIV)
Jesus displayed such deep humility and love for His disciples, despite His own preoccupations. I’m reminded of a quote I came across last week and shared from the pulpit on Sunday.
“When I graduate from the school of Christ I want to have majored in two things: humility and love.” (Jacob Dilger)
Jesus leads the way for us with humility and love. And we see that He was able to do this in the most stressful moments of His existence because of His surety in Who He is and where He was going.
Lord, please help us. Resolve this issue of identity once and for all. Confirm the truth that we sons and daughters, not slaves or runaways. Remind us again and again, we are going Home soon. Let us live today like heaven is tomorrow’s reality. May we, from a sure place of sonship and inevitable inheritance, love and serve others well right now. May we see our fellow man as souls still deciding about their eternal destination. May we make deposits accordingly. Our assignment here is important. Our enemy is relentless. And our contribution has tremendous Kingdom potential. Help us as only You can. Amen.